SB39
In the Starting Line-Up
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Sorry Gumby, I probably should have said a "bit of a reach". Most of the talk here was about Easly being a 2nd round pick who probably wouldn't last until 62. I keep forgetting about casually inserting words that might set people off.
I wish people would forget about whether it was a reach or not, and continue the discussion of what Easly's pick might tell us about how this team is going to attack opposing offenses this fall. It's not going to be your "father's old Pats D" this fall. For example if Tuitt or Nix had been the pick, I might have inferred that we might be headed back to the old 3-4 look more this season. Clearly we are NOT.
I also thought it was an interesting pick since Easly doesn't physically fit the DL model that we've seen here for the last 13 seasons. BB has always, in the past, built his defenses on big DLmen and LB's (see Richard Seymour and Ted Johnson). Now BB shows us the same kind of flexibility we've come to expect by acknowledging how far the game has changed that he's willing to abandon the base D and concepts that he's held for over 30 years.
The more I look at the significance of this pick and realize how we are likely to be playing an attacking front 7 in front of an aggressive physical press man secondary, its like the polar opposite from the read and react front 7's in front of a secondary playing mostly zone defense, that we've seen for the vast majority of the BB era here.
I find this a much more fascinating topic than whether this pick was a reach or not.
Initially looks like a reach, but I'm more interested in what we can infer about what the Pats were looking for, since Easly clearly doesn't fit the "typical" mold that BB has utilized the last 30 years in a DLman. Especially given that there were several of the those "typical guys" there when the Pats picked. Nix, Hageman, Tuitt, Jernigan, etc were all there for the taking and BB seemed to go for Aaron Donald-lite. I think that tells us a lot.
1. We continue to move away from the 3-4 toward the 4-3 as our basic alignment.
2. The Easly pick once again points out the key importance of the inside pass rush. Push up the middle was a need, and a healthy Easly would have been highly thought of because of this very rare skill.
3. So no to the 6'6 310 lb stereo typical 2 gap NT/3-4 TE. Bill wants an explosive player in the middle and THEY evidently thought Easly was the best guy to fill that need.
4. I think that they would have traded the pick in a nano-second if the opportunity arose, but when it didn't, they went for the best guy on THEIR board, and it was Easly. Lets hope that ACL surgery is like Tommy John surgery and players actually get better once its done.
5. Its going to be crowded and competition should be fierce for those DT slots this TC. I'm looking forward to it. (Wilfolk, Kelly, Easly, Armstead, CJones, Siliga, and Joe V....so far)
6. Say what you want for BB. He never ceases to surprise us with his draft picks.....and today is only DAY one.
Not sure about this pick, don't love it but don't hate it either.
Thought we looked ok at DT with Wilfork, Kelly, Siliga, Jones, Vellano & Armstead, the only concern I had is that 3 of them are coming off long term injuries and two of them are undersized. So drafting another undersized DT coming off long term injuries doesn't excite me. But then, after staying up till 4.30am, I'm just glad we didn't trade out of the 1st round....